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Re: Are the 5 basic sentence patterns sacred?

Originally Posted by Casiopea

Originally Posted by jwschang

I think that we can look at it as a shortened adjective phrase with both the heading preposition "in" and (say) the noun "condition" abandoned, leaving only the modifier "brand new" from the adjective phrase "in a brand-new condition". As an adjective phrase, it's position is not abnormal, in "I sold him my car in a brand new condition". So, SVC? :wink:

That's an interesting analysis.

It'd be SVC is V were a linking verb et al, like this:

My car is brand new. (SVC)

Let's look at an SVOC structure:

They named (V) the baby(O) George (C). (SVOC)

'named' takes an object and that object requires a complement. In fact, if we switch the order of the object and the complement the result is ungrammatical:

*They named (V) George (C) the baby (O).

In short, with SVOC structures the O and the C cannot be switched. On the other hand, with SVOO structures the DO and the IO can be switched:

I sold (V) him (IO) the car (DO) brand new. (SVOO+Adjunct)

I sold (V) it (DO) to him (IO) brand new. (SVOO+Adjunct)

Note, 'brand new' is added information; information not required by the verb to express its basic meaning. The same holds true for 'in a brand new condition', as well as other information that's not stated inside the verb's subcategorization frame:

Re: Are the 5 basic sentence patterns sacred?

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

Originally Posted by infinikyte

So if it's just written SVOC, we wouldn't know whether the C complements S or O. Thus there are actually two forms: SVO(OC) and SVO(SC), right? However, by your explanation, isn't this sentence more like a reduction from "It struck me as it is an excellent plan"? So it's actually a subordinate clause type.

No, "as" is a preposition in that sentence and is used in the normal fashion.

Perhaps it should be, "It struck me as an excellent plan." I don't think you need the "it is" part. The "It" is a problem in this sentence as the "as an excellent plan" part is clearly a complement of "it" rather than of the object, "me". It is different from the "He makes me sick"-type of pattern as I am the one who is sickened by him. "I was struck by how it is an excellent plan.... hmmm.... I 'm confused.